Amanda's Band of the Week: FLOW

FLOW is a five person J-Rock band that consists of two MCs, a guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer. Their sound is a mixture of Japanese, alternative, and indie rock with a cup of hip hop thrown into the mix. The group was started in 1993 when the singer Kohshi and his younger brother Take, who is a guitarist, began playing together. FLOW was formed in 98' when Keigo, the second vocalist, and Got's the bassist joined. Later in 2000, Iwasaki the drummer joined the band.

"In 2001, the band released its first Maxi single, "FLOW #0". The group then released two mini-albums within the same year, both of which took nationwide indie charts by storm"(Wikipedia).

Members include:
Vocal: Keigo Hayashi
Vocal: Koshi Asakawa
Guitar: Takeshi Asakawa
Drum: Iwasaki Hiroshi
bass: Gotou Yasutarou

Here's their video for the song "Days" which is the opening song for the anime Eureka 7.


Fore more info and pictures, check out their site: FLOW!

Rating: Very Good

Written and Posted by: Amanda :]

Review: D "Dearest You"

Dr. Hiroki/Gu: Hide-Zou/Vo: Asagi /Gu: Ruiza/Ba: Tsunehito

D [site]

After the release of the album Tafel Anatomie six months ago,
D has finally released another single Dearest You. I personally haven't brought
the single myself, however I've seen the PV for it.

25.4.2007 /¥1500

The song itself is pretty good, in the beginning it starts
with a fast pace rhythm which eventually leads to Asagi's odd screaming/growling
that I can live without. Throughout the song, Asagi vocal parts keeps up with
the 7-string guitar quite well (though at times his opera-like voice comes
alive, which irks me very much so). I was quite surprise that his voice wasn't
as mellow as the past few songs he's done, like Taiyou wo Okuru Hi. There is also a short bass solo from Tsunehito ,performed on a 5-string bass, that begins somewhat simply romantic to
a dramatic end with the guitar work perfectly blending to the ceasing of the
bass solo.

PV-wise, it wasn't really special. It was mainly part of a
live performance with a few side shots of them inside a chapel. Again nothing
extravagant, but you really can't expect more from an indies band can you?

Rating: Decent.

Other songs you should try out:

Sleeper

Taiyou wo Okuru Hi

Posted by: Rose

the gothic lolita rock Queen~

~***NANA KITADE***~



Name: 北出菜奈 (Kitade Nana, 北出菜奈?)
Bloodtype: O
Height: 160 cm / 5'3"
Zodiac Sign: Taurus
Her popularity is aided by her subscription to Gothic Lolita fashion, something she has in common with many of her fans.
She writes the lyrics for all of her music. Susumu Nishikawa and Akimitsu Homma deal with almost all composition of her music.
The song "pureness" was featured as the first ending theme to the Shounen anime Beet the Vandel Buster (Bouken'ou Beet).
The song "Kesenai Tsumi" was featured as the first ending for the anime Fullmetal Alchemist Hagane no Renkinjutsushi
The song "Kibou No Kakera" is the first opening theme for the anime Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z.



Nana Kitade (北出 菜奈, Kitade Nana?, born May 2, 1987 in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture) is a Japanese pop singer. She started learning the piano at 3, wrote her own lyrics at 12, and started on the guitar at 14. After junior high, she went to Tokyo to pursue her dreams in singing.

In 2002, she passed a demonstration tape examination at the Sony Music audition of 40,000 application totals. From there, she was signed to SME Records Inc., and in October, she recorded her first single Kesenai Tsumi (Inerasable Sin), which was used for the ending theme of the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist. By August 2005, her first album 18-eighteen was released. She held her first official concert after that.

Later came the fashion line of her signature Gothic Lolita look called Moon King. She soon became a fashion icon for many teenage girls.[1]


2003
October 29 - Debuted with the single Kesenai Tsumi, which was used as the 1st ending song for the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist.
November 1 - Appeared on the NHK Television program pop-jam.

[edit] 2004
July 25 - First national in store tour was performed until August 15. (7 cities, 8 public performances)

[edit] 2005
June 1 - 5th single KISS or KISS was released. It was the theme song of the Nippon Television drama anego. It ranked 11th place on the weekly Oricon chart.
July 20 - 6th single Kanashimi no Kizu was released. It was the theme song of PS2 game Fullmetal Alchemist 3 -Kami wo Tsugu Shoujo-. It ranked 29th on the weekly Oricon chart.
August 1 - Participated in the Hong Kong Comic Festival 2005. She was the first Japanese person to participate in the festival.
August 24 - 1st Album 18-eighteen- was released. It ranked 16th place on the Oricon chart. Track 6, Alice was used as the image song for the movie Shinku.
August 28 - Participated in Bokura no Ongaku LIVE on the Odaiba Bouken'ou specially installed stage. A part of this was shown to the public on Bokura no Ongaku 2
September 7 - Held her first one-man live show, which was entitled Nana Kitade Live Showcase '18-eighteen-', in SHIBUYA-AX.
December 7 - "NANA KITADE-18MOVIES-" DVD released. The DVD consists of all her music videos up until this point, clips from her one-man live show, commercials for her releases, and a studio recording of Kesenai Tsumi.

[edit] 2006
June 6 - American anime convention Otakon announced that she would be a musical guest for Otakon 2006 in August.
August 2 - Made an instore performance at San Francisco's Virgin Megastore. She did her first US radio interview with eigoMANGA's radio program, Shibuya Airwaves.
August 4 - Made her first East Coast performance at the Ram's Head Live at Otakon.
December 6 - 2nd album "I scream" was released in Japan.

Amanda's Band of the Week: advantage LUCY

Advantage Lucy plays songs influenced by 60s janglepop, Swedish pop, and pretty much anything else that makes people feel good. Presently comprising vocalist Aiko and guitarist Yoshiharu Ishizaka.(...)Aiko's fresh, yearning vocals, backed up by Ishizaka's melodic, jangly guitar work and a stylish yet sincere image, making them an instant favorite with Tokyo's trendy kids.
--> nippop

This is their video for the song "遠い日". Enjoy ;p



If you like them, then check them out at: advantage Lucy

Posted By: Amanda

Will's Video of the Day: AKB48 "the love which was scorned"

this is a subdivision from the group AKB48. this is the more mature division of the group,seeing as they sing about suicide and prostitution and other AKB48 subdivisions talk about happy lovey things.this video talks about love and suicide, its a great video and its an untraditional approach they took at suicide. its an unusual thing for a girl band to do, but its attracting more attention to the group:) check it out!





Posted by: Will

The Old and the New

One month ago, on April 17th 2007, Bou (g. of Antic Café) had announced on the official website that he’ll depart from the band; saying that there was something else he wanted to do. Not only was he the co-founder of Antic Café, but he was also part of the Oshare kei that the band had created. Oshare kei is a sub-division of visual kei that tends to incorporate sounds that are similar to pop punk while retaining the Visual kei rock style of mellow guitar solos and aggressive high pitched tones with songs that are around 5 minutes in length. The lyrics are likely to focus on subject matters that are optimistic, often about love and relationships. Fashion for the Oshare is usually bright and colorful that at times it doesn’t seem compatible.


Now that a month has past two new members appeared creating the new generation of Antic Café. Sorry to say…but although the guitarist (Takuya) that replaced Bou may look good…the new keyboardist (Yuuki) seems out of place. I just hope that the music would be just as good or better!






Anyhow…in remembrance to the old Antic Café, I decided to share a video~
Antic Cafe - Escapism [PV]

Yes…it’s very up-beat. Reminds me of a beach song.

Rating: Good.



Posted by: Rose

Ayumi Hamasaki

Ayumi Hamasaki Secret (album)

Released: november 29, 2006

Genre: J-pop

Secret is the eighth studio album by Japanese pop singer-songwriter Ayumi Hamasaki, released by Avex Trax on November 29, 2006 in Japan. Hamasaki herself wrote all of the album which debuted high on charts across Asia and has gone triple platinum in Japan alone. Secret received an "Album of the Year Award" at the Japan Gold Disc Awards and its title track received the award for "Japanese Song of the Year" at the RTHK international awards in Hong Kong.

Secret is also believed to be Ayu's most successful album yet in worldwide sales. Not only did Secret top the Japanese charts, the album was an instant number-1 hit in countries as Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China. It debuted #2 on the United World Chart.

1."Not yet" - 2:01
2."Until that Day..." - 4:47
3."Startin'" - 4:19
4."1 Love" - 4:30
5."It was" - 4:09
6."Labyrinth" - 1:43
7."Jewel" - 4:16
8."Momentum" - 4:12
9."Taskinst" - 1:36
10."Born To Be..." - 4:52
11."Beautiful Fighters" - 5:12
12."Blue Bird" - 4:11
13."Kiss o' Kill" - 4:39
14."Secret" - 4:58

comments: ayumi hamasaki's latest cd is pretty awesome, my testimony is clearly gonna be positive since shes my favorite jpop singer of all time, she is the japanese music queen for a reason. this cd is awesome i like all the songs except "secret", but the rest of the album is good and it changes from rock ,pop, ballad and instrumental music.

Written by: Will.I.Am

The new Japanese pop queen hits the mark

Koda Kumi (Black Cherry album)

Released december 20, 2006

Genre : J-pop

Black Cherry is Koda Kumi's 5th studio album. Much like the two best collections before it, this album came in three editions; a CD only, a CD+DVD and a CD+2DVD version. The first DVD included all but one of Koda Kumi's post ~second session~ solo PVs (Futari de...) and the second DVD featured a drama called Cherry Girl, which starred Koda Kumi in her first acting role as a main character. This drama was produced by the team who created the drama Busu no Hitomi ni Koishiteru (the drama for which Koi no Tsubomi was the themesong for). On top of all this, the first press versions of these albums featured three bonus tracks: "Twinkle" (from the "Amazing Nuts!" single), "Go Way!!" (the theme song for the 2006 Crayon Shin-chan anime movie) and "Won't Be Long ~Red Cherry Version~" (a different version of "Won't Be Long").The first press versions also included an access code to a special Koda Kumi website, the chance to win original Koda Kumi "Black Cherry" goods (only if purchased alongside the Cherry Girl / Unmei single) and a bonus making feature on the PV DVD. 'Milk Tea' (Track 14) was Koda's first composition that was released on a CD.

This album claimed the number one spot for the week the first day of its release and on its first week of release, the album sold 502,426 units. The album remained on the top spot for another three consecutive weeks for a total of four weeks at the number one position.

Tracklist:

1.Introduction

2.Get Up & Move!!

3.Ningyo-hime

4.Yume no Uta

5.Tsuki to Taiyou

6.Puppy

7.Koi no Tsubomi

8.Won't Be Long ~Black Cherry Version~

9.Juicy

10.Candle Light

11.Cherry Girl

12.I'll be there

13.Unmei

14.With your smile

15.ミルクティー

16.-First pressing bonus tracks-

17.Twinkle ~English Version~

18.Go Way!!

19.Won't Be Long ~Red Cherry Version~

comments:i really enjoy this album, its probably one of my favorite jpop cds of all time, is by far by favorite koda kumi album, i think is amazing how far koda kumi has come since her debut in 2000.Her records were not very well recieved and her sales were low, foward a couple of years and she is releasing cd after cd and four music videos every two months. she is not stopping anytime soon and i think her talent defenetly shines bright in this album. aside from too many versions of the song "wont be long" this album is perfect in my opinion. this album is a perfect gate to japanese pop music.

written by: Will.I.AM